


I Hope It Runs Away

by ValidEmail



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Merlin's pov, Multi, cracky but still sad, jason loves his pup, marvin is a bitch, merlin is a good boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValidEmail/pseuds/ValidEmail
Summary: Merlin, the dog, was not interested in the petty lives of the humans he lived with. Still, he paid attention enough to notice the larger events. (Falsettos from the POV of the dog)





	I Hope It Runs Away

The dog, Merlin, never especially felt wanted within the Weisenbachfeld household. The younger puppy, Jason, would always try to ride him, and when Merlin would shake him off annoyedly, Jason would just roll his eyes. His mother, Trina, would give Merlin treats and absent-minded belly rubs, but not the attention the shaggy dog craved. This woman was was too distracted by that man with the beard. Way too distracted. The man with the beard, “Mendel” as he heard the others call him, was nice to him, slightly. He came home too late and left too early for Merlin to get up to see him as excitedly as he did for the other two people in the family, yet Mendel sometimes went out of his way to ruffled Merlin’s head fur before trudging to bed tiredly. So, Merlin looked for other ways to let out his boredom, as nothing interesting ever happened in that house.

For a bit, at least one weekend, a giant would take him out to the park and he’d throw a marvelous circular disk for Merlin to catch. Even if he would often complain that Merlin’s fur got all over his pricy-appearing clothes, he would never shove Merlin off in the same way Trina or Jason did. The giant was sweet to him, though the giant’s partner wasn’t. The giant’s partner didn’t seem to fit well with anyone else. He’d shove off the others constantly, and though Merlin usually tried to tune out the voices, he knew what yelling looked like. The giant’s partner often yelled with Mendel and Trina, sometimes the giant, though each shrunk back into their shells whenever that happened. The giant’s partner was clearly the alpha, so Merlin didn’t mess with him. Or, at least, he tried not to.

That stopped, though, when the giant’s partner hit his owner, Trina. Trina didn’t appreciate Merlin enough, that was true, but she was still his owner, and Merlin had to protect his owner. Also, the giant’s partner had made the giant cry with a strange bag in his hand that did not carry the scent of that disk like Merlin had hoped. Merlin did the only thing his instincts told him to: he bit the giant’s partner.

Now he understood that the partner’s name was “Marvin,” but that was too close to Merlin's own. The giant’s partner had shrieked in surprise when Merlin attacked his pant leg, and Jason had yanked Merlin off, though the small puppy still buried his face in Merlin’s coat to drench it with fearful tears. Merlin protected him as well as he could, as the yelling continued and Merlin allowed Jason to sink deeper into his brown coat. Once “Marvin” was pushed out the door, Trina was hugged by the giant, as was Jason. Mendel and the giant shared a whispered conversation, which caused the giant to begin to cry again, and Trina comforted him in a similar way that Merlin was doing for Jason. Who hadn’t let go of his coat. Merlin didn’t mind. At least he was finally doing some good for the family, and the giant seemed to also be finally part of it as well, seeing him smile shakily down at Trina, who returned the expression.

But then the giant disappeared, along with his funky smell and his partner. Merlin was taken down to the park by the small puppy, Jason, and they’d play with sticks while Merlin ran freely. Jason did not smell as good as the giant had, but Jason seemed just as sad as he was to see the giant go, so Merlin took his company earnestly. The small puppy had a lot to learn, and Merlin was happy to teach him. At one point or another, during a day filled with rain, the giant’s partner came back. The giant did not. Jason began to disappear on the weekends, and Merlin would instead gain his daily walks from Mendel, who would drone on about his boring job so much Merlin almost fell asleep a few times.

There was another change, and Merlin was suddenly accompanying Jason across the bustling city to a quieter apartment, that was messier than the Weisenbachfeld household. The giant’s partner tried, though, to be a better person than he had been before, his eyes lighting up instantly at the sight of his son. Merlin recognized the shine of love in the man’s eyes as the same he held whenever Jason took him out to play. The giant’s partner was suddenly Marvin in his mind, now, as Merlin had only vague memories of that terrible night, and Marvin’s house smelled faintly of the giant. Merlin pondered if Marvin tried to keep it that way.

 

The family gained two boisterous women, one blond who always fed Merlin scraps of human food under the table when they all had dinner together, and a brown haired woman who knew just how to scratch under Merlin’s ears. He accepted them without thought after the blond had brought him homemade treats, even if they didn’t taste that well. It was the idea that counted.

Then, there was loud, and he was at a baseball field. The stands were cold, but the blond’s arm was wrapped around his waist, so he dealt with it. Sometime towards the end of the baseball game - he could tell by how agitated his family was getting - there was the giant at the edge of the stands, in a leather jacket just screaming that it wanted to be covered in fur. He had approached them, tall as usual, and the blond had to hold Merlin back from pouncing on him. The brown-haired woman had to hold Marvin from pouncing on the giant as well. In the end, the giant and Marvin kissed soundly, causing shouts of agitation to erupt from both Trina and Mendel. Jason had also somehow done something amazing in the time Merlin had glanced away from the small field, as everyone was cheering so loudly Merlin felt dizzy. Thankfully, the dog went home with both Marvin and the giant that day. He finally understood how good it felt to grin, feeling the two men behind him were doing the same.

Just when he had gotten the giant’s expert petting skills back and Marvin had gained his partner once more, something changed. The giant disappeared, and so did Marvin, though usually he was leaving to see the giant in something that was called the hospital. Merlin didn’t really get what was going on, why everyone was so sad all the time, why even his cuddling didn't seem to stop Jason’s quiet crying in the middle of the night. There were people rushing around the apartment constantly, and his trips to the Weisenbachfeld house halted because Marvin needed Merlin too much to let him go. At one point, Merlin was brought to this strange white building, where he was constantly being shushed for his nails smacking against the cold ground. But there he saw a version of the giant he believed the others must have been visiting this entire time. This was not his giant. The giant he knew was tall, and strong, with poofy hair and a big grin. This one had his hair hidden under a hat, and never really moved except to reach out a hand to pet Merlin, his bones showing through his face as he attempted to smile, before breaking out into a fit of coughs.

Merlin had never seen Marvin sob so much as he did after that particular visit. Merlin didn’t return to the hospital until the last visit any of them ever took to Whizzer, and he was slightly glad about that. He wished he could cry with his family, so that none of them would have to feel so alone as they obviously did. Still, the most he could do was be there for Marvin and Jason, who quite often snuggled with him while crying into his fur, gibberish spilling from their lips. He allowed them to silently, because Merlin assumed that was what you did for people who you loved.

There was Jason’s Bar Mitzvah (in all caps, as it was important day) that eventually led to the giant being put into the ground. Merlin didn’t really understand how it happened so quickly. One moment, the giant was hanging off of Marvin, fiddling with his partner’s tie, the next he was being dragged back into his hospital, as he had collapsed right after the most important part of the entire ceremony. He found himself remembering the small snippets of what the giant had appeared to be before, with his tight shirts and tight pants and laughter shared with him and Marvin that seemed to last forever. As he watched Marvin sob helplessly into the blond’s shoulder while they buried the giant’s body deep into the ground, Merlin recognized the fact that nothing really lasted forever. Jason reached out, and placed a trinket onto the giant’s grave. There were marking on the stone, and Merlin desperately wished he could read them, as he could remember everyone’s names besides the giant’s. The giant deserved a name, Merlin affirmed in his head. He had when he was alive, too, perhaps though he should have one now more than before. Merlin wondered for a moment if he should have paid attention more.They enveloped in a group hug then, Merlin watching for a moment, before Marvin motioned for him to join them. Merlin trotted over happily, and the family embraced him as well, all sobbing into each other for now. Merlin heard one word uttered from Marvin’s lips, and finally gained the satisfaction of knowing his dead owner’s name:

“Whizzer.”


End file.
